Caroline Garcia says she knows what is required to be a top player and admits she doesn’t have it anymore, and that’s one of the big reasons why she decided to walk away from pro tennis.
The Frenchwoman, who will celebrate her 32nd birthday in October, announced in May that she would play at the French Open for the last time in her career. Also, the former world No. 4 said that she would play a few more selected tournaments in the rest of 2025 before calling it a career.
This week in Cincinnati, Garcia is playing her first tournament since losing in the French Open first round. And she made a victorious start after beating Sonay Kartal 5-7 6-4 6-3 for her first win since March.
When the 2022 WTA Finals champion revealed her plans to retire, she was only 3-6 in 2025 and had been ranked just inside the top-100.
“Some people don’t understand and they say, ‘Oh, but you are young,’ and everything, but I’ve been there for a long time. I got ups and downs, I’ve been through tough moments, both level-wise and result-wise, and also how I was as a person and how much I suffered,” the 31-year-old told tennis.com.
“I don’t want to just play tennis just to play tennis. I’ve been at the top and what it takes to be at the top again, I don’t have the strength and I don’t know if it’s motivation but it’s just like, I cannot do it anymore. And that’s fine. At one moment, you have to take another way and open another chapter of your life. Hopefully, this new chapter is bringing me way more joy and light in my life.”
Garcia’s 2024 season was a rough one. In mid-September, the Frenchwoman decided to call it a season because she was mentally struggling and hoped that an extended break would help her feel happy again on the court in 2025 and make some good results. But after her first couple of months of the 2025 season didn’t go as expected, the 31-year-old decided it was time to retire.
Meanwhile, in the Cincinnati second round, Garcia plays Karolina Muchova.